2D3D exercises

The exercises below challenge you with simple yet universal 2D3D scenarios. The files for solving the exercises are found in the Practice-files folder.

There is a video for each exercise and there is a sample for you comparison. Try to do what I do and you should be able to come to the same result.

Exercise 1

We begin with depth map topography, the way of the old masters. You are going to slice up the image in depth planes, starting with the closest. For this introduction you can make up to 19+1 depth plane… What ? Why not just 20 planes ? The reason is the infinity/far point. All images has one and in a depth map it is the last depth plane, which is black (RGB 0) by default. This means that you never select the last depth plane, see in the video how this and other basic procedures works…

Exercise 2

The next is about gradient style depth mapping, unlike with topography we select areas, oppose to depth planes. And we fill these areas manually with the tools Photoshop provide. See how in this video…

Proceeding with your own imagery

All images can be converted to 3D, but not all images are equally suited for it.

What makes 3D work is that some sort of foreground relates to details in the background. Without a foreground the background merely appear as being far away with only empty space in front. You should avoid empty space, unless it is between foreground and background.

If at all possible look for images that are sharp from front to back. Our eyes seeks to focus when looking at a 3D scene, when parts of it are blurred it can lead to some discomfort when viewing. Still, it can be a cool effect in certain cases, just make sure that the outline of the foreground object is sharp.

When selecting 2D imagery with that in mind you are bound to achieve great results. Now have fun creating ConversionSets, making depth maps, process, make corrections and process again to make the workflow second nature.

Then, if you like, proceed to the next pages to litterally take it to the next level.